British Car Insurance

[blaaah]

I disagree about getting a pre 1972 car. Terrible fuel economy, It would always be going wrong, wouldn't be that safe in a crash. What you would be learning about it would not be relevant to cars of the future, or today much.
I would get an old early high mileage Aygo with shopping scratches etc.. Very cheap to own and run, cheapest insurance (group 1), safe, reliable, 63mpg. £20 Tax. You could get a 2005 car for £2k. Try entering it for an insurance quote and you might get a good response.

 

[Famine]

Insurance groups are irrelevant to car insurance, save for quite large gaps.

When I was 17 I got the equivalent of what you said (though appropriate to 1995). I wouldn't do it again.

 

[BigYoSpeck]

that's how the guys at top gear pulled off the "car for a 17 year old" challenge

That episode was stupid. Not a one of them went for a low insurance group car and then they went about demonstrating how to break the law to insure it and then break the law some more by modifying it and a little bit more by not declaring accidents.

A not too widely known trick when insuring a car as a young un is to put your mum on as a named driver. When you're under 25 as long as she has a clean license and no claims it can knock a good few hundred quid off.

 

[RenoRanes007]

See if you can work this one out then....

I'm 25, I have No No-Claims Bonus, I own and drive a 1985 Audi ur quattro Coupe Turbo, it's 2144cc Turbo (obviously) with a little bit of engine work to give 260bhp. Parts are becomg as rare as rocking horse poop!... My Insurance is... £223 Fully Comp.

 

[blaaah]

You live in a low risk area? Classic car insurance? Restricted use?

 

[Sureboss]

See if you can work this one out then....

I'm 25, I have No No-Claims Bonus, I own and drive a 1985 Audi ur quattro Coupe Turbo, it's 2144cc Turbo (obviously) with a little bit of engine work to give 260bhp. Parts are becomg as rare as rocking horse poop!... My Insurance is... £223 Fully Comp.

I hate you.

Thing is, with a car like that, they realise you probably aren't going to be driving it like an arse.

 

[BigYoSpeck]

See if you can work this one out then....

I'm 25, I have No No-Claims Bonus, I own and drive a 1985 Audi ur quattro Coupe Turbo, it's 2144cc Turbo (obviously) with a little bit of engine work to give 260bhp. Parts are becomg as rare as rocking horse poop!... My Insurance is... £223 Fully Comp.

Classic car insurance?

 

[Tommi]

A not too widely known trick when insuring a car as a young un is to put your mum on as a named driver. When you're under 25 as long as she has a clean license and no claims it can knock a good few hundred quid off.

I've done this with both my Mum and Dad, it definitely helped knock the price down a fair bit. 👍

Also, try contacting insurance companies directly for quotes (e.g. Ringing them up), that often gave me cheaper prices compared the ones I was getting from the same insurers on price comparison sites.

I'm 25, I have No No-Claims Bonus, I own and drive a 1985 Audi ur quattro Coupe Turbo, it's 2144cc Turbo (obviously) with a little bit of engine work to give 260bhp. Parts are becomg as rare as rocking horse poop!... My Insurance is... £223 Fully Comp.

Your occupation?

 

[Clark]

Unfortunatley you just have to deal with it if you want a car in the UK. I'm 19 and my 1.2 2004 Clio is £2900 fully comp.

 

[RenoRanes007]

Classic car insurance?

Classic car insurance?

Damn, was hoping it would at least take a day! lol

 

[Sniffs]

i see SOMEONE spotted the fact that "antique" insurance is lower. btw, how did you even FIND one of those Quattros?

btw...how the hockey sticks can they charge 4 grand(us money) for a friggin Reliant Robin??! and yes, Yank fans of Top Gear know what they are

one thing I'd like to know is, doesn't Britain have the idea of "state minimum" type insurance? I've been using the format for years to save myself major moolah, as every vehicle I've had hasn't been worth bothering with Full Comp (why would you want to completely cover something that's only worth it's metal price for recycling? ) after all, over here, not only are Americans still swapping cars every year or three (for NEW), any vehicle over about 5 years old is considered "scrap" by older folks.

 

[RenoRanes007]

i see SOMEONE spotted the fact that "antique" insurance is lower. btw, how did you even FIND one of those Quattros

Classic Car Insurance FTW!

It's more a case of finding a Good one, there are a few about at any one time (at least over ehere anyway) but finding a decent one for the right money is the hard part. lucky or me I found mine the same day that I decided "I quite fancy one of them". It just so happened I saw one on TV (no, not that flamin' cop program that everyone quotes!) and it brought back childhood memories of seeing one rumble past my old school gates every week and just thinking how awesome it was!

 

[Sureboss]

We'd call it Third Party. Then you have Third Party, Fire and Theft and finally Fully Comprehensive.

But there are some insurers where going Fully Comp is actually cheaper than TP/TPFT. As with the whole of the UK Car insurance industry, the most logical thing isn't always cheapest.

Reliant Robin? Well, I don't think I'd ever want to drive one or be approaching a roundabout seeing a 19-year old trying to give it some beans and rolling it...Reality is, most other cars of that size capacity would be around the same.

It's amazing just how much difference a few years make, I'm 22, yet only passed driving test in the summer. Yet go back a page and Duffers is spending £600 more on a 1.2 Clio than my quote for a 1.8 Mk3 MR-2 (and I could probably lower that to under £2k if I put my Dad on the insurance). He's probably been driving longer than I have. I'd go so far as to say younger drivers are expected to crash.

 

[Jondot]

It's amazing just how much difference a few years make, I'm 22, yet only passed driving test in the summer. Yet go back a page and Duffers is spending £600 more on a 1.2 Clio than my quote for a 1.8 Mk3 MR-2 (and I could probably lower that to under £2k if I put my Dad on the insurance). He's probably been driving longer than I have. I'd go so far as to say younger drivers are expected to crash.

Not as much of a difference as no claims makes. Mine went down £800 from last year simply because I'd managed not to crash the same car for 12 months. That's despite the fact that I had a £1100 collision in a hire car in October. Final weird thing I noticed: time of the year. My quotes from September were about £1200, but paying in January brought that down to £900.

RE the Robin Reliant issue, I'm not entirely surprised. It's easy for a joyrider to nick, easy for a joyrider to spot, easy to roll over (either by driver or... passing pedestrian), and upon crashing probably collapses like cling film. Compare that to a Megane which, depending on age, would either have a 4 or 5 star EuroNcap rating, alarm, immobiliser, wouldn't be looked at twice by a car thief etc... Sort of adds up.

 

[boiltheocean]

If you go though an online form they will use your IP address to determine your location (without telling you) and that could effect the final price.

My dad recently went down the online route to renew insurance, when the price had gone up he decided to phone the insurer up who then proceeded to go through the same online form over the phone. He ended up with two different quotes from the same company with the same details being used in both forms.

 

[Jondot]

If you go though an online form they will use your IP address to determine your location (without telling you) and that could effect the final price.

My dad recently went down the online route to renew insurance, when the price had gone up he decided to phone the insurer up who then proceeded to go through the same online form over the phone. He ended up with two different quotes from the same company with the same details being used in both forms.

Got any evidence to back that up (beyond the different quote from over the phone)? Can't see any insurance company going through the bother of doing such things when a) in many circumstances it's not a hugely accurate form of determining a computer's location, and b) even if it was able to pin-point you on a map there's nothing to say that your car is going to be parked there.

 

[BigYoSpeck]

If you go though an online form they will use your IP address to determine your location (without telling you) and that could effect the final price.

My dad recently went down the online route to renew insurance, when the price had gone up he decided to phone the insurer up who then proceeded to go through the same online form over the phone. He ended up with two different quotes from the same company with the same details being used in both forms.

Sorry sun shine but you have to tell the insurer your address anyway so it's irreverent what IP address you have.

I've also never known an insurer who has an online quote system be any cheaper over the phone, typically they claim an online discount, but phone them up and give them the online quote number, then they will still for legal reasons go through every detail over the phone and you get the same price.

Because of the online systems and the fact that pretty much every insurer now use the same systems there are very few that you can negotiate with over the phone.

 

[stumpydino]

I've also never known an insurer who has an online quote system be any cheaper over the phone, typically they claim an online discount, but phone them up and give them the online quote number, then they will still for legal reasons go through every detail over the phone and you get the same price.

Every time I have got an online quote, called up and got a quote it turned up cheaper. I guess because you can discuss more detail about yourself that they can factor in. When I got a Rover 214 at 18 I looked around with average quotes at 2000 third party. After suspecting maybe there were middle-man fees involved on confused/moneysupermarket etc. I figured I'd check them out individually. Eventually went to one online and got 1800, called them up and they quoted me 1600 fortunately the next year was half that, and following was another third less. Strangely my sister had a same year 1.4 Nova at 18 and the highest she ever got was 800...
Oddly I shopped for renewal quotes this year and got one less than my current company, called them up and the one that gave me lower price was a sister company so they dropped it without argument, good job I looked around

Specialist insurance can't go wrong with Adrian Flux they found someone to take on a 21yo with a 3l V6 and while I had limited myself mileage, I was only paying 600, which at the time was the same as I was paying for a 1.6 Astra

 

[daan]

Got any evidence to back that up (beyond the different quote from over the phone)? Can't see any insurance company going through the bother of doing such things when a) in many circumstances it's not a hugely accurate form of determining a computer's location, and b) even if it was able to pin-point you on a map there's nothing to say that your car is going to be parked there.

I don't see insurers doing that. If you were to do a search on the IP that I'm currently posting from, it'll come back as being in Camden Town, London. I am currently 388 miles away from Camden Town, and my car would be living 15 miles away from where I currently am.

 

[TommyWizard]

The Reliant is made entirely of chewing gum and firbreglass lol. Parts are easily replaced or made (My dad used to be a fibre glasser)

Its crazy, I've driven it to see how it goes and it is a flying machine in a striaght line, no weight, but corners are dangerous even at slow speeds. It is more like riding a bike, having to lean in to keep the weight more central! But nothing a few bags of well place sand cant help... It'll be a fun story when eventually I get pulled over for having R plates up.... Which is the other thing that the Mainland UK folks dont have to deal with.

We have stupid R plates that "restricts" the driver from going over 45MPH even on Motorways etc. Technically speaking, the car that the R plates are installed on should not go over 45 becuase its not "correct" but in reality its just so the cops dont pull over a father whose doing 60 and he's got a clean license and they are made out to look like an ass.

I've heard though that insuring a car in Scotland is really cheap. If worst comes to worst I might get a few relatives details and do that. I need to have this car running before May.

 

[boiltheocean]

Got any evidence to back that up (beyond the different quote from over the phone)? Can't see any insurance company going through the bother of doing such things when a) in many circumstances it's not a hugely accurate form of determining a computer's location, and b) even if it was able to pin-point you on a map there's nothing to say that your car is going to be parked there.

I know it seems odd why that would happen but the only thing that changed in the two online forms were the computers they were sent from. Every single detail in the form was the same. That's the conclusion I came to, and I did think about your point of it not being very accurate yet I can't think of any of other reason why they would be different. It would be preposterous to assume they judge you on your ISP or Internet browser choice so the only relevant information they would get is your rough location using your IP.

 

[blaaah]

Getting the best insurance quote is such a pain. You can start with using the comparison sites entering your details once. But remember different times of day will give different quotes, if you keep doing it you might find it goes up or down without any detail changes. Choose the top 3 on the list, then you can make them all lower their prices by saying company A is doing it for x pounds can you beat it? And then keep doing that in a circle until there are no lower prices. I don't have the patience to do that more than once though.

 

[Sureboss]

I know it seems odd why that would happen but the only thing that changed in the two online forms were the computers they were sent from. Every single detail in the form was the same. That's the conclusion I came to, and I did think about your point of it not being very accurate yet I can't think of any of other reason why they would be different. It would be preposterous to assume they judge you on your ISP or Internet browser choice so the only relevant information they would get is your rough location using your IP.

IP is terrible for a rough location, I highly doubt it was a factor, online quotes can be very random, just because you have same details and the only difference is the computer you did them from makes no odds, the system itself is quite random.

 

[boiltheocean]

So your saying that the same details through the same online form from the same insurer can produce two very different quotes for no valid reason?

 

[Sniffs]

Sureboss: Idiot insurance is a heck of a way to save money over here. we have two insurers that specialize in minimum coverage. ours goes more by the engine size and door count, I swear.

RenoRanes:audis are still kinda rare over here, thanks to one without a tranny and brake interlock that got started and killed a kid (i think it started off america's real safety paranoia with cars). and, no, americans don't think to use handbrakes, 'cause they're not in the middle anymore (american guys rack their nuts (knackers) on them, and that area is now used for storage). they're a step on pedal next to the drivers door, and it's "out of sight, out of mind" (most american cars, anyway).

Tommy Wizzard: doesn't anyone think to LOWER the poor things?. it's more the high center of gravity that seems to be causing the rollovers. also, how wide a tyre can you get away with on the front, cause when I DID see one, I thought they needed to get off those skiny little tyres.

Floats: odd, american IP addresses point only at the server or where it's being bounced from rather than where your at (my connection server is at least 50 miles away, as the crow flies)

 

[BigYoSpeck]

Tommy Wizzard: doesn't anyone think to LOWER the poor things?. it's more the high center of gravity that seems to be causing the rollovers. also, how wide a tyre can you get away with on the front, cause when I DID see one, I thought they needed to get off those skiny little tyres.

The things made out of canoe material anyway so the only weight high up is the windscreen and your head, no real way of getting them lower. As for the tyre it has such a small engine it would struggle with rolling resistance from a larger surface contact plus with only one wheel guiding the front and next to no weight over it the last thing you need is a higher chance of aquaplaning

Floats: odd, american IP addresses point only at the server or where it's being bounced from rather than where your at (my connection server is at least 50 miles away, as the crow flies)

Depending on your service it can be quite accurate. I'm on cable which only shows me to my nearest town about 7 miles away, but when I was on DSL it would show the exchange which was only a couple. That's still not what affects insurance though as you give your exact address getting the quote and that is used to calculate it.

 

[Sureboss]

So your saying that the same details through the same online form from the same insurer can produce two very different quotes for no valid reason?

Yes, I've seen it and tested it. As Big Speck says, you put in your address anyway, an address is definitive an IP isn't.

 

[boiltheocean]

Yes, I've seen it and tested it.

Why is that then? If they aren't drawing any information from the computer used to submit the form (which I accept they don't), why should identical forms submitted at the same time have two very different results?

 

[Sureboss]

Because the variables have ranges to work from rather than definitive figures. If you think of all the difference risks you put on the form, your risk of claiming will be say, £2,000-£2,500, not £2,205.17. All the form is really doing is narrowing down the range of what you'll be charged.

It's not definitive, insurance never can be because they never know what you will do, they will just base the likelihood of what you will do on statistics, the accuracy of the estimates will vary because of this. It's the only real way they can do it, looking at each person individually will only increase prices anyway, because underwriting costs so much more in that instance.

As Famine says, the main problems are Premiums are higher than they should be, due to uninsured drivers (which quite frankly is a stupid situation, if you don't pay anyone to indemnify you on the road then you should be forced by the courts to financially pay for any claim by any party involved), the injury claim culture and those who are higher risks and do actually cause severe injuries and fatalities not actually paying enough.

Also, looking at your experience, you say one was done online and the other over the phone. Did he do the online quote through a comparison site? Because they can be out of date. How different was the quote?

There's also the fact from a sales perspective, it's easier to sell to someone over the phone than it is through a website, so that will create a difference in some instances and depends who you speak to as well, different people will have different authority (Those who don't notice a difference will be invariably those who don't do research or get quotes elsewhere and use that to their advantage to pull the price down.)

That's how I've understood it from a friend who is a broker for one of the main insurers. In fact it was he who dissuaded me from doing Pass Plus as it was only brought in to bring some insurers in-line with other insurers.

 

[BigYoSpeck]

As Famine says, the main problems are Premiums are higher than they should be, due to uninsured drivers (which quite frankly is a stupid situation, if you don't pay anyone to indemnify you on the road then you should be forced by the courts to financially pay for any claim by any party involved), the injury claim culture and those who are higher risks and do actually cause severe injuries and fatalities not actually paying enough.

They do, the motor insurance bureau policy is to only pay out where there is a chance they can recoup the costs and they do pursue those responsible. But if someone doesn't have the £300-2000 to insure their car in the first place you have zero chance of recouping the costs after an accident. You can make them liable for it as a debt, but it's pretty much impossible to make some one pay a debt if they don't want to.